Somalia: Local Crisis, Global Crisis

Editor's Note

The early warning systems worked. But the response to the
famine in the Horn of Africa, which is particularly severe
in Somalia, has still been too little and too late, as is
the common pattern for such crises. Now the media, as well
as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and
diaspora Africans from the affected countries, are
mobilizing to respond more massively. That response is both
necessary and urgent. But it is also essential to reflect
on the system-wide causes and the inadequacy of global
institutions to respond.

Among the many efforts by the Somali diaspora in
particular, one noteworthy project is Survival Backpacks
for Somali Refugees in Kenya, a project by Somali
filmmakers in Nairobi to support refugees making their way
from inside Somalia to camps in Kenya. The project urgently
needs support to meet their modest goal of $25,000
(http://tinyurl.com/62xpqpl)

This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains (1) a note on the
Survival Backpacks project, (2) excerpts from the latest
summary of the current status of the Drought in the Horn of
Africa, from the UN's Office of Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and (3) an essay by Paul
Rogers of OpenDemocracy with a useful overview on the
global implications of this latest food crisis.

Another AfricaFocus Bulletin released today, and available
on the web at
http://www.africafocus.org/docs11/som1107b.php, focuses on
the conditions in the massive Dadaab refugee camp, and
includes excerpts from a December 2010 report by Amnesty
International

For a longer background paper, just released this week, see
Famine in Somalia: What Needs to Be Done
(both immediate response and long-term analysis;
includes a 16-page Briefing Note on
"East Africa Food Crisis: Poor rains, poor response")
http://www.oxfam.org / direct URL:http://tinyurl.com/3gy3gzx

Survival Backpacks for Somali Refugees in Kenya

Summary

Media attention is focusing on Somali refugees arriving at
Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Thousands of people, mostly
women and children have walked for days, even weeks and
arrive at Dadaab with nothing. Somali filmmakers, working
in Dadaab for the past two years, will supply Survival
Backpacks for immediate interim assistance to recentlyarrived
refugees. As members of the Somali community, they
are well qualified to assist. Hot Sun Foundation is
providing logistical and documentation support.
What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Somalis are fleeing the worst drought in 60 years.
Thousands arrive daily at Dadaab refugee camp Kenya,
overwhelming available resources. The Somalis, mainly women
and children, have walked for days, even weeks, and arrive
with nothing. International aid is on its way, but with
over 1500 people arriving daily at Dadaab, refugees must
wait for long periods to receive help. They need immediate
interim assistance, including blankets, canteens for water
and shoes to complement food and water aid.

How will this project solve this problem?

Somali filmmaker, Ahmed Farah, who has documented the life
of Somali refugees for several years, with Abdisalaan Aato
and Deeq Afrika is taking Survival Backpacks to Dadaab. The
Survival Backpacks include a blanket: for temporary
shelter, a water flask: few have containers for water, and
shoes: most are barefoot (shoes destroyed after walking for
days). They will report on the situation on video and
photos to show you the impact of your assistance. Multiple
trips will be made as required.

Potential Long Term Impact

Survival Backpacks will provide needed basics for Somali
refugees who arrive at Dadaab with nothing. Even more
powerful will be the effect of Survival Backpacks being
distributed by Somali filmmakers, who have been working
with refugees at Dadaab. Somalis will have a chance to tell
their stories about what is happening both in Somalia and
at Dadaab on video and through photos, giving all of us a
unique opportunity to learn what is happening and see the
impact of our assistance.

Project Message

Many international news agencies have been reporting on
Dadaab Refugee camp but our plan is to go further inside
and report back to the world. We will ensure your support
reaches people in need.

- Ahmed Farah, Filmmaker and Project Co-Coordinator

***********************************************************

Horn of Africa Drought Crisis

Situation Report No. 5

21 July 2011

This report is produced by OCHA in collaboration with
humanitarian partners. It is issued by OCHA Eastern Africa.
It covers the period from 15 to 21 July 2011. The next
report will be issued on or around 26 July.

I. Highlights / Key Priorities

On 20 July, the United Nations declared a state of famine
in southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of southern
Somalia. Famine may also spread to other southern regions
in the coming two months, if urgent interventions are not
undertaken. Across the country, nearly half of the Somali
population - 3.7 million people - is now in crisis. An
estimated 2.8 million people of those are in the south.

Following Al-Shabaab's announcement in early July to
allow humanitarian access to areas under its control in
southern Somalia, agencies have been making initial
contacts and increasing response where programmes were
already underway.

The Kenyan Prime Minister on 14 July announced the
government's intention to allow UNHCR and partners to put
refugees into the Ifo II site in Dadaab. The actual
relocation of refugees to the new site has however not
begun and preparations have begun at other sites that have
could accommodate the overflow but which do not have the
structures and facilities of Ifo II.

The Kenyan Cabinet in response to the food insecurity
situation in the country authorized an expenditure of 9
billion shillings (US$100m) to purchase emergency food
supplies for affected Kenyans, and further stipulated
conditions for the importation, by millers only, of grain
from Genetically Modified sources.

The third refugee camp in Ethiopia which opened at the
end of June is already full; work has started on a fourth
camp to hold up to 40,000 people.

Over US$1.1billion has so far been committed to the
response, but a shortfall of $850m remains, this before
additional costs of expanding the Somalia operation.

II. Regional Situation Overview

Humanitarian Situation

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden,
announced on 20 July that famine conditions have emerged in
two regions in southern Somalia, namely Lower Shabelle and
southern Bakool. The conditions in both regions were
classified as famine based on evidence that access to food,
malnutrition and mortality rates surpass the respective
famine thresholds. Based on definition by the Integrated
Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), famine is
declared when acute malnutrition rates among children
exceed 30 per cent; more than two people per 10,000 die per
day; and when people are not able to access food and other
basic necessities. Other indicators of a very serious
situation in these areas include large scale displacement
and disease outbreaks.

The most affected areas of Somalia are in the south,
particularly the regions of Lower Shabelle, Middle and
Lower Juba, Bay, Bakool, Benadir, Gedo and Hiraan. An
estimated 310,000 children in these regions are acutely
malnourished. Specifically, the acute malnutrition rates
exceed 30 percent in southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle,
with reports of peaks of 50 per cent in certain parts of
the region. In addition, increased under-five mortality
rates have been recorded, with more than six deaths per
10,000 per day in some areas, largely due to causes related
to malnutrition. Access to food and other basic necessities
remains a challenge in most parts of southern Somalia.

Also on 20 July, at the launch of the Mid-Year Review of
the Humanitarian Appeals for 2011, United Nations UnderSecretary
-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency
Relief Coordinator (ERC) Valerie Amos confirmed that
discussions over humanitarian access in Somalia were ongoing,
with agencies making efforts to reach the affected
people where they were, and not just in displaced camps.

The declaration of famine was only for some parts of
Somalia. However, parts of neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia and
Djibouti are suffering from severe food insecurity, also as
a result of the drought. More than 11.5 million people are
in need of lifesaving assistance throughout the Horn of
Africa region (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia).

Refugee influxes from Somalia into Kenya and Ethiopia
continued this week, with an exodus averaging 3,500 people
a day arriving in parts of Ethiopia and Kenya that are also
suffering from the impacts of the current drought. UNHCR
reports that more than 20,000 Somalis await registration at
the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya. New arrivals are
receiving food, health and other services while they await
registration. Most of the newly-registered refugees in
Kenya are currently living on the outskirts of the
congested camps in Dadaab. The three existing camp
structures in Dadaab have exceeded their original capacity,
and are now hosting more than 383,000 refugees, four times
the number originally planned for.

Upon visiting the camps, the Kenyan Prime Minister
announced on 14 July the government's intention to allow
UNHCR and partners to settle refugees and offer them with
assistance on the extended land at Dadaab refugee complex.
The Kenyan government instructed that only temporary tented
shelter facilities should be provided in the area. Partners
in Dadaab are now waiting for formal government
authorization to begin the relocation of refugees. This
will ease pressure on shelter, water and sanitation
facilities and further reduce tensions with host
communities, who are also severely affected by the drought
conditions. The relocation will also allow agencies to
provide services in a more structured and coordinated
manner.

In Ethiopia, the Kobe refugee camp, which opened at the
Somalia-Ethiopia border at the end of June, is already
full. Two other camps previously established - Bokolomanyo
(established in 2009) and Melkadida (2010) have also
exceeded their planned capacity. The government, UNHCR and
other humanitarian partners are now working to finalize
construction of a fourth camp, Hilowen, which will be able
to host up to 40,000 people. Planning for a fifth camp,
Bora-Amino, which would have a capacity of 60,000 to
80,000, is also underway. In recent days, the number of new
arrivals from Somalia at the registration site on the
Ethiopia-Somalia border has tapered off from the peak of
2,000 new arrivals per day previously reported, reducing to
some 500 to 600 per day. This has enabled ARRA and UNHCR to
clear the backlog of people awaiting registration. However,
more than 8,000 people are currently at the transit site in
Dolo Ado, awaiting transfer to the camps.

...

III. Country Situation Overview

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, 4.57 million are in need of humanitarian
assistance. The impact of the La NiÃ±a-induced drought is
becoming increasingly acute across the lowlands of southern
and southeastern Ethiopia, with most of the droughtaffected
areas classified as experiencing 'humanitarian
emergency' conditions, according to the Famine Early
Warning System Network (FEWS-Net) and WFP.

...

Refugees: More than 112,000 refugees from Somalia are
currently in the Dollo Ado area (Somali region) of
Ethiopia. As the three existing refugee camps of
Bokolomanyo, Melkadida and Kobe are at or over maximum
capacity, preparation of a fourth camp at Hilowen is being
finalized, and planning for a fifth camp, at Bora-Amino, is
underway. ...

Kenya

Drought conditions in Kenya's northern and north-eastern
districts have deteriorated further after the poor
performance of the March-June long rains. This has deepened
food insecurity, water shortages and increased the risk of
disease outbreaks. There are currently 2.4 million people
needing food aid assistance, and the numbers are expected
to increase in the next month. A mid-season Kenya Food
Security Steering Group (KFSSG) assessment conducted in May
2011 indicates that up to 3.5 million people may require
food aid assistance in coming months. ...

Somalia

Across the country, nearly half of the Somali population -
3.7 million people - is in need of assistance. Among these,
3.2 million people require immediate, lifesaving
assistance. An estimated 2.8 million of these are in the
south. The scale and severity of the crisis in Somalia
makes this the most serious food insecurity situation in
the world since the 1992 famine in the region. ...

According to WFP, the number of reachable beneficiaries in
Somalia in July 2011 is 1.5 million. This figure excludes
people in need in parts of south Somalia where they have
had no access since January 2010. In June, WFP delivered
2,681 metric tons of mixed food commodities reaching
483,265 people (214,000 in
south-central, including 167,000 in Mogadishu, 54,000 in
Puntland and 48,000 in Somaliland). In terms of gaps, WFP
has reported a requirement of 77,660 metric tons of food
between July and December 2011, worth US$ 99.4 million. WFP
announced a shortfall of 24,735 metric tons worth US$ 41.8
million representing a 42 percent funding shortfall.

In addition, WFP has been accessing all 16 districts of
Mogadishu through wet feeding, reaching more than 85,000
people on a daily basis, and has targeted supplementary
feeding programmes in various parts of the city. WFP is
planning interventions in the border areas of Gedo and the
Afgooye Corridor; an increase of operations in Mogadishu
and central Somalia. UNHCR has distributed assistance
packages reaching over 63,000 people in southern Somalia
and will distribute packages reaching 126,000 people in the
coming days. The UN and partners are also responding in
districts along the border with Kenya and Ethiopia border,
where access is improving.

...

Djibouti

The Government of Djibouti held an event to launch the
revised drought appeal for $39m on 18 July. The appeal is
about 42% funded. The revision makes reference to 26,600
people estimated to be in need in urban areas for the first
time. The government is allocating at least US$1m from its
own resources to the response.

A world in hunger: east Africa and beyond

The severe drought across much of east Africa is a human
emergency that requires urgent attention. It also signals a
global crisis: the convergence of inequality, food
insecurity and climate change.

[Paul Rogers is professor in the department of peace
studies at Bradford University. He has been writing a
weekly column on global security on openDemocracy since 28
September 2001. ]

A drought across much of east Africa in mid-2011 is causing
intense distress among vulnerable populations, many of them
already pressed by poverty and insecurity. The range of the
affected areas is extensive: the two districts in Somalia
that are now designated as famine-zones are but the most
extreme parts of a much wider disaster that stretches from
Somalia across Ethiopia into northern Kenya, and as far
west as Sudan and even the Karamoja district in northeast
Uganda.

The numbers put at risk in this, the worst drought in the
region since the 1950s, are enormous. At least 11 million
people are touched by the disaster. In the Turkana district
of northern Kenya, 385,000 children (among a total
population of about 850,000) are suffering from acute
malnutrition (see Miriam Gathigah, "East Africa: Millions
Stare Death in the Face Amidst Ravaging Drought", TerraViva
/ IPS, 18 July 2011). In Somalia, the conflict between the
Islamist Shabaab movement and the nominal government makes
conditions even more perilous for those affected.

The world's largest refugee camp, at Dadaab in northern
Kenya, offers a stark illustration of the consequences of
the drought. The population of Dadaab, which was designed
to cope with 90,000 people, has increased in recent months
to 380,000 - and 1,300 more are arriving daily (see Denis
Foynes, "Eleven Million at Risk in Horn of Africa",
TerraViva / IPS, 19 July 2011).

The lessons of crisis

But just as striking is that this is part of a recurring
phenomenon. Major warning-signs of malnutrition and famine
were already visible in April 2008; among them were
climatic factors, steep oil-price increases, increased
demand for meat diets by richer communities, and the
diversion of land to grow biofuel crops (see "The world's
food insecurity", 24 April 2008).

What made these ingredients more perilous was the way that
(as is so often the case) they acted synergistically. The
clearest example of this was the sustained world food
crisis of 1973-74, when (at its peak) some 40 million
people in thirty countries were at risk. The overall
predicament derived from a combination of two long-term and
five more immediate factors.

The long-term issues were the relative neglect of rural
development since the 1950s, and the fact that many
countries were just starting to make the demographic
transition (meaning that they still had 40% or more of
their population under the age of 14). These were
intensified by the short-term problems: the coincidence of
poor weather conditions (including the seven-year drought
in the Sahel and floods in south Asia), a huge increase in
oil and fertiliser prices, increased demand for meat in
northern countries, the failure of the green revolution to
deliver sufficiently robust new crop varieties, and rampant
commodity-market speculation that also forced up prices.

In the event the crisis of 1973-74 did not tip into real
disaster. A transnational famine was avoided, partly
because a few states (notably the newly wealthy middle-east
oil-producers) belatedly provided enough aid. But the most
significant aspect was that throughout, the world's grain
reserves were substantial; they did fall to around half of
the usual stocks, but even at the peak of the crisis still
averaged around 100 days of supply. The problem the crisis
revealed was that far too many people could not grow enough
of their own food and could not afford the inflated prices
in local or national markets. At the heart of the emergency
were issues of poverty and economic marginalisation.

The lessons of a near-catastrophe were never learned. The
then United Nations plan for a major increase in tropical
agricultural research and development was costed at the
equivalent of 2% of world military expenditure per year,
yet barely a third of the money needed was actually raised.

There have since been nearly four decades of "development",
with contrasting outcomes: the world has grown very much
richer yet the great bulk of the new wealth has benefited
the richest 1.5 billion in a global population that the
United Nations estimates will reach 7 billion in October
2011. A far wealthier world is more divided, and contains
nearly twice as many malnourished people, as was the case
in the early 1970s. These facts alone are a damning
criticism of the way the world economic system has evolved,
and in particular of the neglect of food security for tens
of millions of poor and vulnerable people.

The climate factor

What makes this situation even more pressing is that it is
now reinforced by the existing and likely impacts of
climate change (see "The climate peril: a race against
time", 13 November 2009).

There is abundant evidence that the rate of temperature
increase in coming decades will be faster over the tropical
and sub-tropical land-masses - as much as three times the
worldwide average in many such regions. The early effects
will include a marked decline in what Lester Brown has
called the "reservoirs in the sky": the glaciated regions
of the high Andes and the far greater water-stores locked
up in the Himalaya and the Karakoram (sometimes termed "the
third pole") (see Lester R Brown, "Rising temperatures
melting away global food security", TerraViva / IPS, 6 July
2011).

The dry coastal areas of Peru and other parts of western
south America depend on the Andean glaciers. But the value
of the south Asian glaciers is hugely greater since they
feed the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra and other river systems
on which hundreds of millions of people depend for food.
When the "reservoirs" shrivel and temperatures rise, the
result is increased heat- and water-stress in crops,
causing yields to fall and thus food shortages. Such
shortages already exist, as the east African crisis shows;
on present trends they will become far worse in the coming
decades (see "A century on the edge: 1945-2045", 29
December 2008).

A degree of adaptation is in principle possible, not least
through key technological and political changes : improving
water conservation and the breeding of drought-resistant
crops, and reforming the world economy to ensure far more
equity and economic emancipation (see Amartya Sen,
Development as Freedom [Oxford University Press, 1999]).
These innovations alone would be near-revolutionary - but
still not enough to solve the problems . This requires
bringing climate change under control via a "great
transition" to ultra-low carbon economies.

The current crisis in east Africa requires immediate
coordinated action to alleviate the widespread suffering .
It is also a powerful reminder of the far larger efforts
needed here and elsewhere, which are amplified by the
preceding decades of neglect and waste. The ability to
achieve the great transition - with all it entails in terms
of sustainable livelihoods and social organisation - will
determine whether the planet's next generations are
guaranteed the food and other resources to enable them to
survive and build fulfilled lives.

AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
publication providing reposted commentary and analysis on
African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
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